Silk Road leads to clients' homes

Traveling fabric shop: New Milford woman says she practically lives out of the trunk of her car

Sybil Blau

Published 10:17 pm, Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Mary Villa, owner of Silk Road Curtain Trading Company in New Milford, is shown with David Gardner, owner of Chintz-N-Prints in Newtown, where she sometimes shops for her clients, Monday, Nov. 13, 2012.
Photo: Carol Kaliff

Mary Villa, owner of Silk Road Curtain Trading Co. in New Milford, knows the look and feel of these and countless other fabrics.

Her business provides fabric and hardware for custom home furnishings such as drapes, valences, bedding, Roman shades and pillows to residential and commercial clients in Connecticut and New York.

Villa, who owned Newtown Curtains in Newtown and Brookfield, no longer has any shops. Instead of clients going to her, now she goes to them.

"I sort of live out of the trunk of my car," said Villa, a single mom of two daughters.

"In-home service, particularly in a specialty business, is not only convenient for a client, it's more efficient," she said. "It's easier to pick a fabric because a room's color and lighting play a significant role in what will look good."

Besides customer convenience, in-home service allows her "especially in this economy," she said, "to lower the cost to the client because I don't have overhead."

First, Villa and a potential client have an initial consultation that focuses on the client's wants, needs and ultimate aims.

During the planning, she uses a computer program that diagrams windows and their treatments to scale.

"I do all that so that we're all on the same page," she said. "It makes decision-making easier."

Her attention to detail and success at finding the best and most suitable materials for clients are among the reasons she earns customer praise and recommendations. Among the businesses she uses is Chintz-N-Prints, a fabric shop at 39 S. Main St. in Newtown.

Store owner David Gardner, who has known Villa for more than 10 years, described how she searches through his stock to find what clients may like.

"She spends an awful lot of time finding the best fabric to satisfy them," he said.

"Mary, like many of the designers who use our facilities, approaches her work with diligence and care. She really likes what she does."